The present disclosure relates generally to fluid-inflatable pads and bed systems for supporting the weight of a user particularly for therapeutic and medical applications.
Both patients and patient service providers benefit from products that provide features that increase therapeutic effectiveness, provide greater patient comfort and/or reduce patient cost. Part of the patient care services provided by patient service providers includes the administering of certain therapies while a patient is in bed. Such therapies include those that are directly related to the damage caused to the skin of a patient due to long periods of time spent in bed. For example, moving a patient, while in bed, can help prevent, as well as cure, bed sores (decubitus ulcers). In addition, reducing the pressure and alleviating pressure points that a bed or support surface exerts on a patient's skin can also help prevent, or cure, bed sores. This can be achieved, for example, by providing an inflatable mattress where the weight of a patient can be distributed over a wider area and therefore the pressure on the patient's skin can be greatly reduced, as compared with the pressures exerted by conventional mattresses. The reduced pressure allows greater blood supply to the patient's skin and thus helps to avoid capillary occlusion and the potentially resulting bed sores. Further, even greater pressure relief may be achieved where the mattress contains multiple inflatable cells and where the pressure in each cell, or group of cells, can be independently controlled.
Additional therapies that may be provided to a patient while the patient is in bed, include, for example, those therapies related to treating respiratory complications, such as pulmonary therapy, alternating therapy, pulsation therapy, low air loss therapy, static pressure therapy or the like. Such therapies may require the movement of the patient while in bed for the purpose of loosening up fluids in the patient's lungs. With these therapies, the weight of the patient may be shifted to help loosen up such fluids. Beds or mattresses containing inflatable cells may be used to allow for controlled inflation and deflation of selected cells for the purpose of assisting patient service providers in shifting the weight of the patient.
Fluid-inflatable support products such as mattresses or pads that may be used on or in beds, chairs, or the like to support the weight of a human body may be used to prevent or cure users or patients prone to, or suffering from, decubitus ulcers or pressure sores, such as by distributing the pressure within a plurality of compartments or cells inside the mattress or pad. Fluid-inflatable supports may also be used to help with respiratory complications by loosening fluids in the lungs and removing moisture away from a user's skin to help prevent discomfort such as bed sores, pressure sores, ulcers or other problems. As such, these support products may help prevent skin macerations and high pressure points on a patient's or other user's skin. These applications may rely, for example, on causing rotation or movement of a user or patient or altering the distribution of pressure supporting a user or patient, such as to avoid pressure points or prolonged pressure points. Such alteration in the distribution of pressure may be achieved by differentially inflating the plurality of fluid-filled compartments or cells within the support product. Fluid-inflatable support products may also include attachment structures (e.g., a zipper) to allow the support product to be zipped to a mattress cover or other support surface or cover. Such mattresses may include solid foam mattresses, air cell based mattresses or any other suitable type of mattress.
Existing fluid-inflatable support systems or products have typically relied on manual disconnection of a hose(s) to deflate the support product and provide a flat surface for administering CPR when necessary. Although a variety of connector designs have been made which emphasize fast decoupling of the control unit from the support product, these designs have generally relied on a patient's weight being sufficient to force the fluid out of the interior of the support product, which may delay application of CPR until the patient is firmly on the flat surface. Fluid-inflatable support products or bed systems with a powered CPR function have been constructed which rely on a spring-loaded valve released by a solenoid while other designs have required manual movement of the valve mechanism. For alternating or rotational therapies, existing support systems have traditionally relied on a patient's weight to attain alternating pressure or rotational pressures.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved apparatus and method for rapid evacuation of fluid pressure in a fluid bed system for administering CPR to a user or patient and/or providing improved and responsive control or adjustment of pressure distribution in a fluid-filled support or bed system to achieve movement or rotation of a user or patient and/or avoidance of prolonged pressure points on the user or patient, or for any other suitable purpose.